Senator Tom Coburn: ‘Power Is a Tool’

You recently learned you have prostate cancer and announced that you’ll be leaving the Senate next January two years before the scheduled end of your term. How are you feeling? I’m feeling good. I’m not cured of the disease, but I’m on my way to marked improvement. And they may potentially have a cure. But I’ve got 5 or 10 years in front of me even if they don’t cure it.

In recent months, the Republicans have agreed to a bipartisan budget deal and raised the debt ceiling. Is your party developing a self-preservation impulse? Absolutely. To avoid another shutdown, what you do is make a realistic assessment: The Democrats are in control of the Senate and the presidency. It’s pretty hard to win a battle when you don’t control the Senate and the president’s not going to sign something even if you can get it through.

Lately, you’ve been concerned about a “crisis of legitimacy” in Washington. What do you mean by that? All you have to do is look at Congress’s approval ratings. It’s normal that it’s low, it’s not normal that it’s 9 percent or 11 percent or 13 percent. We’ve given up our legitimacy. Legitimacy is about being honest on the issues, not being partisan.

You recently said that your biggest failing in the Senate has been your inability to communicate effectively to change people’s minds. A third of those on the other side literally can’t stand me because they don’t like my positions and the way I communicate them. And with the other two-thirds, I’ve not effectively communicated with them to change their heart.

What percentage of your own caucus can’t stand you? Oh, probably the same number.

Do you really think the problem in Washington is that people don’t listen to one another? My philosophy is different than most of the people up here. I think if you do the right thing and lose, you still did the right thing. I think if you do less than the right thing and win, it’s morally reprehensible.

You’ve been quite critical of Ted Cruz, and your feelings about Harry Reid are well known. Which one would you rather take a long car trip with? Oh, Ted Cruz by far. Ted is a good guy.

No road trip for you and Reid? He probably wouldn’t survive it. I would bore him to death.

What’s a question you would ask of a candidate for federal office that doesn’t normally get asked? Will you agree to impose your own term limits? And: Have you ever been in politics before? Because if you’ve ever been in politics, I don’t want to vote for you. If you have term limits, then you’re more likely to have people in office who are not motivated by a career in politics. They’re going to be more likely to serve time and then go back home.

So I guess you won’t be staying here after you retire? No. Heck no. I contemplate and pray a lot about what I’m supposed to do. The one thing I know I’m supposed to do is to leave here.

You have compared Washington with Las Vegas. Why? Las Vegas takes advantage of every weakness that we have. That’s what power in Washington does. Power is a tool. And how you use it is a discerning attribute of your character.

What would you say the best use of that power is? The best power we have is the power to bring people together to solve problems. That’s my big beef right now with the president. His power has been used more often to divide us as a nation rather than to bring us together.

Do you think President Obama really believed he could transcend that division when he became president? I think he could have. I think the problem is, he surrounded himself with too many people that thought just like he did. If his real leadership goal was hope and change and to abandon the culture that’s here, he should have assembled a mix of advisers that gave him input from both sides.

Do you have any liberals on your staff? I had some Democrats, but they died.